Branding Professionals : An Exploration of Academic Professionals’ Experiences of Internal Branding Processes
(2026) In Lund Studies in Economics and Management- Abstract
- Internal branding processes have become unavoidable features of organisational life, relating to the practices, efforts, and labour surrounding cultural production through which organisational actors seek to circulate understandings of what an organisation is and stands for. This thesis explores internal branding processes in the professions, using the example of the academic context, and how professionals in academia – the academics – experience internal branding efforts. Through an interactionist lens, the study draws on rich, ethnographically inspired empirical material from two business schools in a leading country within higher education branding.
The study’s overarching contribution – the introduction of the... (More) - Internal branding processes have become unavoidable features of organisational life, relating to the practices, efforts, and labour surrounding cultural production through which organisational actors seek to circulate understandings of what an organisation is and stands for. This thesis explores internal branding processes in the professions, using the example of the academic context, and how professionals in academia – the academics – experience internal branding efforts. Through an interactionist lens, the study draws on rich, ethnographically inspired empirical material from two business schools in a leading country within higher education branding.
The study’s overarching contribution – the introduction of the conceptualisation of reflexive deflection – captures the ways that professionals in academia perceive and respond to internal branding efforts. Professionals’ experience of internal branding processes is complicated by the impression of brand-centred control, and the assertion by those responsible for internal branding efforts that professional employees should live the brand – ideas adopted from sectors outside the professions.
Reflexive deflection has three expressions: pragmatic indifference, selective acceptance, and cynical appropriation. The findings challenge the compliance–resistance framing that is often implicit in literature on employee responses to branding, and reveal that professionals’ responses to internal branding do not exist on a spectrum with opposite ends, and are instead interwoven, situated, and dynamic identity–deflecting practices. A central theme of the contributions of this thesis is the complexity of the branding experience for professionals, and how members of strong professional cultures react to internal branding. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/286bdbb8-5c3f-492f-81ae-b42f24cee48f
- author
- Biering-Sørensen, Anna LU
- supervisor
-
- Tony Huzzard LU
- Dan Kärreman LU
- Monika Müller LU
- opponent
-
- Associate Professor Jeanes, Emma, University of Exeter
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Branding, Brands, Internal Branding, Identity Work, Academic Professionals, Professional Identity, Higher Education, Symbolic Interactionism, Qualitative Research
- in
- Lund Studies in Economics and Management
- issue
- 180
- pages
- 240 pages
- publisher
- Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden
- defense location
- Tegstamsalen (EC3:109)
- defense date
- 2026-05-22 14:15:00
- ISSN
- 0284-5075
- ISBN
- 978-91-8104-878-0
- 978-91-8104-879-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 286bdbb8-5c3f-492f-81ae-b42f24cee48f
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-14 09:22:29
- date last changed
- 2026-04-14 09:22:29
@phdthesis{286bdbb8-5c3f-492f-81ae-b42f24cee48f,
abstract = {{Internal branding processes have become unavoidable features of organisational life, relating to the practices, efforts, and labour surrounding cultural production through which organisational actors seek to circulate understandings of what an organisation is and stands for. This thesis explores internal branding processes in the professions, using the example of the academic context, and how professionals in academia – the academics – experience internal branding efforts. Through an interactionist lens, the study draws on rich, ethnographically inspired empirical material from two business schools in a leading country within higher education branding.<br/><br/>The study’s overarching contribution – the introduction of the conceptualisation of reflexive deflection – captures the ways that professionals in academia perceive and respond to internal branding efforts. Professionals’ experience of internal branding processes is complicated by the impression of brand-centred control, and the assertion by those responsible for internal branding efforts that professional employees should live the brand – ideas adopted from sectors outside the professions.<br/><br/>Reflexive deflection has three expressions: pragmatic indifference, selective acceptance, and cynical appropriation. The findings challenge the compliance–resistance framing that is often implicit in literature on employee responses to branding, and reveal that professionals’ responses to internal branding do not exist on a spectrum with opposite ends, and are instead interwoven, situated, and dynamic identity–deflecting practices. A central theme of the contributions of this thesis is the complexity of the branding experience for professionals, and how members of strong professional cultures react to internal branding.}},
author = {{Biering-Sørensen, Anna}},
isbn = {{978-91-8104-878-0}},
issn = {{0284-5075}},
keywords = {{Branding; Brands; Internal Branding; Identity Work; Academic Professionals; Professional Identity; Higher Education; Symbolic Interactionism; Qualitative Research}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{180}},
publisher = {{Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Studies in Economics and Management}},
title = {{Branding Professionals : An Exploration of Academic Professionals’ Experiences of Internal Branding Processes}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/247433206/Anna_Sophie_Biering-S_rensen_Thesis.pdf}},
year = {{2026}},
}